By Courtney Dentch
They call her the matchmaker of Kennedy Airport.
Since Dolores Hofman came to the Queens Air Services Development Office more than 10 years ago, she has paired airline industry tenants at the airport with local businesses, resulting in $500 million worth of contracts.
But Hofman’s history with Kennedy Airport goes further back to her days with the now-defunct Pan American World Airways when she became the first licensed female forklift operator at the airport in 1972.
“I embarrassed more men into doing more work than anyone else,” she said of her cargo days. “It was like a novelty to watch the girl unload the trucks.”
Hofman, 55, of Island Park, L.I., chose to pursue her love of travel and the aviation industry as a career path when she was young, after ruling out her two other passions, dance and animals, she said. Hofman decided that a dance career would not allow her to maintain the home life she wanted and that she was too squeamish to be a veterinarian.
“My dream was to see the world and maybe become a flight attendant,” she said.
When a girlfriend told her about an office job at Pan Am, Hofman jumped at the chance. She started as a clerk in 1966 and then moved into a secretarial position, she said. In 1972, Hofman’s immediate supervisor left the company, which sent her scrounging for a new position. The only openings, however, were in the cargo area.
“I thought, ‘I could do that,’” she said.
Pan Am executives discouraged Hofman from going for the job, which required her to load and unload heavy freight packages and operate a forklift, she said. The bosses put her through a 2-1/2-hour physical and determined her build was “too slight” for such demanding work, she said.
“I said, ‘I’ll go out to the warehouse and find 12 guys just as slight as I am,’” she said. “It was very chauvinistic, but some of them sincerely thought they were helping me by talking me out of it.”
Hofman demanded they give her a chance at the job, and for two years she worked in the warehouse alongside 150 men, she said. She faced her share of ridicule, including a truck driver who came in from California and would not allow anyone to unload his truck until “the girl comes back from her break,” Hofman said.
Hofman realized she finally had earned their respect when the whole crew sent her roses when she was out with a case of bronchitis, she said.
After about two years, Hofman left the warehouse for the personnel department and moved into management there, she said. In 1989 her supervisor recommended her to be the director of personnel at Evergreen International Airlines, also at Kennedy Airport, she said.
“I love this airport,” she said. “Once aviation is in your blood it’s hard to leave it.”
Hofman’s job as head of the Air Services Development Office, located at Kennedy Airport, combines her love for the airport with her love for helping people, she said. The ASDO connects tenants at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports with Queens-based businesses in a bid to offset the problems created by the two airports with economic benefits for the borough, she said.
“It was a match made in heaven because I love helping people,” Hofman said. “Even though there are negatives to having the airports here, this program helps give back to the community. It gives Queens-based businesses an edge.”
The referral service is free on both ends, and ASDO maintains a database of companies and the products and services they offer, Hofman said. The database also tracks information about the businesses, such as size, capability and whether a company is minority- or women-owned, she said.
“We have a lot more information than if you just went through the Yellow Pages.”
In one example, a janitorial service had been registered with ASDO since the early 1980s and just recently landed a $5.5 million contract at LaGuardia, Hofman said.
“So many people have gotten opportunities they wouldn’t have had if it wasn’t for this program,” she said. “It’s so good that people can’t believe that something so good can be free.”
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
